Govt starts talks with northeast insurgents

Minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju has initiated talks with insurgents in northeast India.

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NEW DELHI: The government has started informal talks with insurgent groups in the northeast to find a lasting solution to the militancy in the region.

It is also considering relaxing the restricted area permit required for domestic and foreign tourists visiting areas along the China-Indian borders in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir to give a fillip to tourism.

All this is part of a larger plan to open up these areas, considered as tourist attractions, integrate them with mainland India and open up the Indian economy to Southeast Asia.

Minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju told TOI, "I have full charge of the NE division and have been informally meeting representatives of some of these outfits. I have conveyed to them: 'See, here is your man in Delhi, and this is your best chance to come on board and shun violence'. I hope these groups, as they have indicated so far, are serious about bringing peace to the region and work together for the development of the long-neglected NE states."

He said he enjoys the confidence of PM Narendra Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh. "I have asked officials in my ministry to initiate formal dialogue," he said, and expressed optimism that some of the militant groups will come on board in the near future. "We have some differences with ULFA and NSCN and hopefully that will be sorted out in due course," Rijiju said.

Thuingaleng Muivah (background centre), general secretary and chief negotiator for NSCN(I-M) takes the salute from his outfit's members at its organization's headquarters at Hebron camp, about 40km away from Dimapur town in Nagaland on March 21, 2010. (Getty Images file photo)

The minister said the government this time will ensure that the interlocutors who hold talks with militant groups have more mandate than just one-on-one discussions. This would mean that the interlocutors could have talks simultaneously with all stakeholders to reach a comprehensive solution. In case the negotiations fail, the government would clamp down on their front organizations and stymie their finances.

A boy and a Ulfa militant at a Ulfa training camp in Assam (Getty Images file photo)

Rijiju said the government is also considering relaxing the people area permit required at present, giving access to tourists to restricted areas. This would boost the local economy and create more job opportunities, he said. "We are considering partial withdrawal of people area permit (PAP) and restricted area permit (RAP) from certain pockets of bordering Arunachal Pradesh and Leh and Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir," Rijiju said.

If you restrict a region and make it inaccessible to tourists, it will never develop, the minister explained. "We are not lifting all restrictions, but would like to open up these areas to domestic and foreign tourists with less restrictions and develop infrastructure in the bordering areas to make it easily accessible to all visitors," he added.